Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for direct and immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for putting in place an effective institutional mechanism for smooth procurement of food grains by the Central government. Badal apprised, the Prime Minister of the serious problems being faced by the state government on the procurement and storage of food grains front.
He told him, Punjab procures 11,000,000 million tonnes (MT) of wheat and 14,000,000 MT of paddy in the state every year and there is an acute shortage of storage space for these essential commodities. He pointed out, the state government was executing a pilot project for construction of silos for storage of wheat and the same has been sent to the Ministry of Food, GoI for approval. He demanded the GoI must reimburse silo storage charges of Rs 1,365 per tonne per annum to the state government. He further stressed that adequate storage space needs to be created for storage of rice and also pointed out the urgency of rapid movement of rice from Punjab to other states.
Badal told the Prime Minister that incidental charges amounting to Rs 4,000 crore are to be reimbursed to the state since 2003-04 and the case is still pending with the Central government. Similarly, transport charges and losses due to storage damages are also pending for the last 10 years. He impressed upon the Prime Minister to intervene and get these issues settled.
The Prime Minister sharing his concern on these vital issues of national interest, agreed he will speak to the Union Food Minister to find practical solution after discussion and the state Food Supplies Minister may meet him for following up on the matter.